Author Archives: BarryH

Tilos: a coast walk and making like a commando

Posted on July 21, 2013 by BarryH

It’s not that I’m contrary or perverse but a notice saying that the coastal path is closed due to a landslide is nothing but an invitation to go and look. The path leads to Red Beach and the further, less … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Landscape, Mountains, Nature | Tagged accessibility path, gorge, Greece, Lethra, nature, PPembrokeshire Coast Path, Red Beach, Tilos, Tilos Coast Path | Leave a comment

Tilos: what is getting the goat of the island’s landscape?

Posted on July 19, 2013 by BarryH

My attention was suddenly diverted from picking my way through the excessively prickly vegetation on a narrow mountain-side agricultural terrace to get into position for a photo of yet another abandoned olive press. A noise like a turkey having its … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Landscape, Mountains, Nature | Tagged Billy Goat, fresh figs, goats, Greece, Greek Islands, Landscape, olive press, ripe fruit, sheep, South Wales, strange sounds, Symi, thorns, Tilos, Wales | Leave a comment

Tilos: sharply to the top

Posted on July 17, 2013 by BarryH

I’ve mixed the words and the pictures in this post so it’s more trouble to avoid the words. I’m malevolent like that! Friday night and I went for a meal with friends who live on the island. Clichés abound to … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Mountains | Tagged Chile, climbing, coast path, craic, footpaths, goat shit, goats, guano, hiking, Koutsoumbas, rock, rock pinnacles, Tilos, trekking | 2 Comments

Tilos: traumatic changes and empty shells

Posted on July 13, 2013 by BarryH

If you get bored with the words and just want to look at the pictures, scroll down and click on the ones you want to see larger. But there are a few more words at the end. Norman Tebbit, one of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece | Tagged climate, drought, emigration, Greece, Greek Islands, Livadia, London, Micro Horio, night club, old churches, olive press, rocks, roofs, stone houses, Tilos, water supply | Leave a comment

Tilos: rocky ramble and vrachophilia

Posted on July 10, 2013 by BarryH

No matter how rational we like to think we are we mostly make decisions based on subconscious, emotional inputs and then justify them with logic. We reinforce the positives and diminish the negatives in so doing. Thus it was on … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece, Mountains | Tagged Aegean summer, Agios Stavros, decision making, flotsam and jetsam, gorge, Greece, heatwave, rock pinnacles, secluded beach, shade, Stavros beach, subconscious, Tilos, vrachophile | Leave a comment

Greece: art and about in Rhodes

Posted on July 8, 2013 by BarryH

My ferry from Rhodes to Tilos was at 18.00 so I had plenty of time for a leisurely wander around Rhodes Old Town with the camera, even after a sluggish start. We have been wandering around the walled town at … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Greece | Tagged art, clock tower, fountains, Greece, Mandraki, plane tree, Rhodes, Rhodes Old Town, Roloi, Socrates, street art, tree art, walled city | 2 Comments

Greece: to Rhodes

Posted on July 7, 2013 by BarryH

The flight to Rhodes was uneventful if, as all flights, tedious. The taxi ride to the old town was, as ever, an opportunity to tune my ear to the language with the driver doing me the courtesy of speaking Greek … Continue reading →

Posted in Greece | Tagged close to midnight, dancing, Greece, greek set, midnight, ouzeri, Rhodes, Rhodes Old Town, rose petals, roses, sea shells, taxi ride, walled town | Leave a comment

Greece: wild walks or soft fruit?

Posted on July 4, 2013 by BarryH

After a delayed spring and weeks of very indifferent weather it seems that I am about to leave Wales just as a heatwave is promised. Health issue resolved, I have been hesitating to go back to Greece because of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Greece, Mountains | Tagged art, barren mountains, beaches, blackcurrants, creativity, Greece, mountains, Profitis Ilias, raspberries, redcurrants, soft fruit, Tilos | Leave a comment

Wales: wild wet walks

Posted on June 24, 2013 by BarryH

Sunday and I had to get out into the mountains. All week I had been concentrating on construction work in the garden, laying paths and humping rocks around for landscaping and I needed to stretch my legs, get to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Grey Britain, Mountains, Pontypool, Wales | Tagged Afon Lwyd, bad weather, brecon beacons national park, gulls, Ogof Draenen, Pont, Pontypool Folly Tower, rain, sink holes, skylarks, Wales, wind | 1 Comment

No wild walks in Greece: taking a positive view.

Posted on June 11, 2013 by BarryH

One of the inevitable consequences of spending the last three summers trekking in Greece has been that the garden has been neglected. It’s about ¼ acre, a lot to neglect. Many people living nearby have moved as they got … Continue reading →

Posted in Pontypool, Spring, Wales | Tagged acer glade, acers, aquilegia vulgaris, fruit, gardening, growing fruit, growing vegetables, iris, soft fruit, stone terraces, vegetable garden, vegetables, Welsh Poppy | Leave a comment